example weight-training routines?

L

leyndurmal

0
Can anyone recommend, or give links to, example weight-training routines?

About me:
I'm pretty thin (5'6'', ~115 lbs.), so I'm not so much looking to lose weight as to develop some muscle and get toned. I've been 'working out' for about a year now, but I guess I'm pretty clueless as to how do it correctly, since I haven't seen much change -- about 5 days a week, I spend about 30 min. doing some kind of cardio (usually running or elliptical) and about 45 min. on various weight machines, but I haven't really seen any results (no noticeable change in weight or muscle, my endurance and the amount I can lift hasn't really differed from when I first started, etc.).

So are there any good examples of what I should do in terms of weight-training? I've been trying to fix my routine by:

1. Interval training when I'm doing cardio, since maybe I'm not pushing myself hard enough? (Though I usually end up in a big sweat even without interval training.)
2. Taking breaks between weight-training days. (Usually I go on the weight machines everyday, and cycle through all of the different muscle groups, but apparently I should focus on one muscle group per day, and make sure there's at least one day of rest for that muscle group before I work on it again?)

But I'm still not sure what a good routine should be. For example:

1. What are the exact exercises I should do to target my arms/legs/chest/back, and in what order? -- I usually just do whatever random machines I see other people doing, which I guess is a bad idea.
2. How long should I be spending weight-training?
3. Should I only weight-train 3 days a week? Or as long as I take a day-break between each muscle group, it's okay to train for 5-7?

Thanks!
 
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Cool, thanks for the stickies -- didn't see them =). I'm male.
I guess the problem is there's so many choices in the stickies that I'm kind of paralyzed on which one to do. For example, should I do the Rippetone routine? Or the full-body workout? And if I do the full-body workout, which exercises?

I just want to become stronger and lose some 'softness', not become super bulky, so does it really matter? That is, would I be okay just sticking with the following 'loose' plan, or would it not really be effective?:

3 days a week, I do any one exercise (10 reps x 3 sets) for each of the chest/back/shoulders/legs/arms/abs muscle groups, without really caring about which exercise it is? (e.g., one day I can do pushups for the chest, another day I can do presses... just whatever I feel like)
 
For the 2 cents it is worth, here is what I do.

First, I do big, compound movements exclusively (i.e., I don't do any isolated movements, e.g., to work the biceps or triceps as the compounds take care of these.)

Squat
Bench press
Pullups
Chinups
Dips
Pushups
Seated cable rows
Lat pulldowns
Deadlifts

I typically do 5 exercises per workout with a combination of lower and upper exercises = full body, 3 sets of 6 - 10 reps. I try not to duplicate similar exercises (e.g., I generally won't do pushups and the bench press in the same workout). I work out 3 times / week and do heavy cardio exercises 5 days a week as I am a triathlete. Obviously there days that I do cardio and weights.
 
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